Written by Dr Asaf Siniver. Does this month's escalation in violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank mean that a third intifada – a Palestinian uprising against the Israel's occupation, following those of 1987 and 2000 – is imminent? The latest events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict prove that the next round could kick off at any moment.

Written by Dr Asaf Siniver. Does this month's escalation in violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank mean that a third intifada – a Palestinian uprising against the Israel's occupation, following those of 1987 and 2000 – is imminent? The latest events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict prove that the next round could kick off at any moment.

A joint POLSIS/ICCS distinguished lecture given by one of the world's leading experts on international relations. Chair: Dr Tim Haughton (POLSIS/CREES), Speaker: Robert O. Keohane (Princeton University), Discussant: Professor Nicholas Wheeler (ICCS, University of Birmingham).

Kataryna﻿ Wolczuk, Dr Derek A﻿verre, Dr Kevork ﻿Oskanian and Nino K﻿emoklidze presented and discussed their research findings and ideas at the UACES 44th Annual Conference in Cork, Ireland and at a steering committee meeting of an international research project in Paris, France in September.

Written by Professor Stefan Wolff and Professor Tatyana Malyarenko (Professor of Public Administration at Donetsk State Management University). Ukrainians have voted for a new parliament. The exit polls, in line with earlier predictions, indicate that the Petro Poroshenko Bloc – which also includes the UDAR party of Kiev's mayor, former boxing champion Vitali Klichko – came out on top (predicted to achieve around 23% of the vote), but will need partners to form a stable coalition that will give Poroshenko a majority in parliament.

On 16 October, the Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, announced that part of the UK Reaper drone fleet would be deployed in Iraq to support coalition efforts against the terror group ISIL. This week, he confirmed they would also be flying surveillance missions over Syria. These events mark the first operational use of UK Reapers outside Afghanistan and represent a significant and timely development in the UK government's stated policy towards 'drone warfare'.

Written by Dr Julie Gilson. In a country that has had nine leaders since 2000, Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe appeared to have found the recipe for longevity. But the resignation of two ministers from his government has left him in serious trouble.

Written by Dr Julie Gilson. In a country that has had nine leaders since 2000, Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe appeared to have found the recipe for longevity. But the resignation of two ministers from his government has left him in serious trouble.

Written by Professor Stefan Wolff and Professor Tatyana Malyarenko (Professor of Public Administration at Donetsk State Management University). The EU-Asia Summit in Milan, Italy, delivered little, if any, tangible progress to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. Relations between Russia and Ukraine's major European allies remain just a few degrees above a new Cold War-style ice age. And with only a preliminary gas deal achieved between Kiev and Moscow this may be quite literally true for Ukrainians as winter approaches.

Written by Dr Gëzim Alpion. Few thought that Serbia's Euro 2016 qualifying fixture against Albania on October 14 2014 would be an easy match. But the depths to which it sank are shocking even to those familiar with the potency of anti-Albanian feeling among Serbia's nationalist factions.

The International Development Forum is an initiative funded by the University of Birmingham Educational Enhancement Fund to provide an introduction to international development to students from across the University, at any level of study.

The roots of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) are to be found in the international community's attempts to navigate a route through UN Security Council (UNSC) inaction in the face of mass human rights atrocities. The likelihood of such inaction is exacerbated by the ability of UNSC Permanent members to veto actions which they oppose, but given the level of human suffering which characterises such crises, should this right of veto, unfettered by the UN Charter, be subject to some degree of constraint? Issues relating to this question are considered in 'The Responsibility to Protect and the "Unreasonable" Veto'.

Dr Will Leggett, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, has been invited to deliver a public lecture at the new Library of Birmingham as part of the Ikon Gallery's 'Those were the decades' 50th anniversary events.

Written by Dr Tsering Topgyal. "Earlier this month the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, concluded a three-day trip to India. As he set off to meet Narendra Modi, Xi wrote in The Hindu that China and India "need to become co-operation partners."